The First Thing in Seasoning Is Salt

SOUTH'S FORTRLOST SERsoninc EXPERT

The First Thing in Seasoning is Salt

THE CAREY SALT COMPANY HUTCHINSON, KANSAS WINNFIELD, LOUISIANA

OR almost a quarter of a century it has been my happy privilege to appear regularly before groups of women and discuss with them the engrossing subject of foods they serve. Yet looking back over these years, I am sure that my greatest joy has come not from my lectures nor from my writings but from the opportunities my work has given me to meet and chat with thousands of women about their personal culinary problems. . There has been scarcely a day in all these years when someone has not said to me: "I suppose I might as well give up. I guess I'm just not a 'born cook'." Invariably my reply has been that if there is such a thing as a "bom cook," I have yet to see one; and that of all the nonsensical legends, the one that some women are bom with peculiarly instinctive skill for preparing foods is the most ridiculous. Goodness knows, if anyone should believe the folk lore that surrounds "bom cooks" —I suppose I should. On the southern plantation where I was born and spent my girlhood, my mother's authority in household matters extended no farther than the kitchen door. There the word of Aunt Caroline, our colored cook, was law, and for Mother or anyone else to have interferred would have been lese majeste. Everyone said Aunt Caroline was a "bom cook." Certainly she preserved the traditional mystery that seems to surround such unusual people, for she would never describe her recipes more accurately than "a pinch of this" and "a dash of that." Her only cook book was a worn copy of "The Virginia Housewife," which she held in great reverence, if not awe, and which she consulted on all important occasions. This same old cook book, now 100 years old, is before me as I write. And even if Aunt Caroline had followed its recipes to the letter, she would still have had no more accurate guide than "a pinch of this" and "a dash of that," for its instructions apparently were intended for "born cooks" only. So, as I say, I grew up in an environment where the belief that cooks were born — not made — was as much an accepted fact as that children should go to church every Sunday. It was only many years later, when my chosen profession made necessary a deep study of Culinary matters, that I realized what a pious old fraud Aunt Caroline and every other so-called "born cook" was. Aunt Caroline and every "born cook" I have ever heard of has devoted her life to a study of the art in which she excelled. When a "bom cook" casually says she uses "a pinch of this" or "a dash of that" in her recipe, you may be sure she knows almost to the grain just the amount that pinch or dash should be. How? Why, by constant study — by experiment- ing— by just plain hard work in the kitchen. I'm sure I have had thousands of women say to me: "Mrs. Stanfield, I attend your lectures and others like them every year. You tell me how to prepare special party things, unusual salads, desserts and luncheon plates. You give me recipes for these and I follow them, but what about everyday foods — those things that constitute nine-tenths of all my cooking? Honestly, when I leave your cook book I'm lost, and certainly I can't keep a cook book in front of me every minute I am in the kitchen." Nothing could be a more justifiable criticism of our modern methods of lecturing and writing on Culinary matters. I'm afraid that many of us to whom women turn for Culinary advice have been guilty of teaching senior courses to freshmen students. It was for that reason that I decided several years ago to write a book covering the fundamentals of cooking. When I began my research for this book, I was amazed to find how little was available on this important subject. There were, of course, volumes of recipes, and in each of them quantities and methods were fully explained — but that was just the trouble. I was searching for something that would tell the average housewife why certain ingredients were used — what they did to improve the recipe so that when she used that ingredien.t again without the cook book for guidance, she would have a knowledge of the value of that ingredient in all cooking. I began to question women about the simplest ingredients and how they used them in cooking when definite instructions in a cook book were not available. The answers I received convinced me that modern women give little if any thought to the basic science of preparing foods, and when they leave the cook book their everyday dishes never come up to those where they follow exact instructions. It was originally my intention to write a book covering the basic importance of those ingredients most frequently used in the preparation of the food we eat. Not from a health standpoint, for heaven knows we have had enough of that, but to try as best I could to tell the part sugar, salt, flour, milk, butter, shorteninq, pepper, etc. played in helping make our foods more appetizing — more savory — how, when and why they should be used — with the hope that these elementary- facts, reduced as nearly as possible to scientific accur- acy, would bring to modern women in quick, under- standable form, those fundamentals that "born cooks" learn by long hours spent over mixing tables and stoves. I soon realized, however that to do this would require a book far too costly for the purpose I had in mind. I wanted to produce a book that could be widely- distributed and at a very low price. It was then that I decided to take each of the most generally used ingredients separatly and describe the part that particular ingredient played in the preparation of the foods we eat. It was only natural that the first of such books should discuss salt — for salt is the one ingredient that is necessary in the preparation of all foods. But what is more important, my study has convinced me that while women use salt more regularly than any other single thing in the kitchen, they under- stand less about its use than that of anything else that goes into their recipes. What hostess hasn't had the embarrassing proof of this at her own table when some guest has tasted her most prized creation and then furtively reached for the saltcellar. In fact, so general has the custom of salting food at table become in America that often times families acquire the habit of salting foods even before tasting them. This can mean but one thing. Salt used at table is salt that should have been used in the kitchen — except, of course, on those foods that must be salted at table. For salt used at table can never impart the zestful flavor of salt that is cooked or prepared with the food itself. The function of salt in seasoning is as simple as it is misunderstood. Salt cooked in foods brings out and activates the flavor of the food you are preparing, no matter what it is. In roast meats, as an example, when salt is properly used in the recipe it brings out the fine flavorful elements in the meat juice and rebastes those flavors back into the roast. No amount of salt used at table can possibly restore the flavor that the roast loses by the improper use of salt in its preparation. I know the thought that arises in your mind. You are thinking that the difference in personal tastes can only be satisfied by each individual seasoning with salt at table. Yet consider for a moment. If this were true, as we have been led to believe, the same thing might as well apply to any other seasoning ingredient you use. Just think how funny it would be if you were to go to a luncheon where cake was served and the hostess passed around a little vial of vanilla along with the cake for those guests who preferred a more pro- nounced vanilla flavor. My experiments have led me to believe, however, that this custom of using salt at table on prepared foods has arisen not from differences in taste but because the average cook has never realized the primary importance of using the right amount of salt and using it in the right way in her recipes. Many reasons are accountable for this paradoxical situation that has led us to give least thought to the most important seasoning ingredient. First, salt is so generally used that we simply take it for granted. Even in the most complete cook books, where pages are devoted to explanations of seasoning materials, salt is ignored. Then, too, salt is the only seasoning ingredient that is always on the table. We never .stop to think, however, that salt is kept on the table for those foods that must be salted when served. The attitude of the average housewife seems to be: "Oh, well, if I don't use the right amount of salt, my guests or my family can add salt at table." She would never think of adopting this attitude toward any other seasoning ingredient; yet women generally resign themselves to this haphazard use of salt. Surely you have had the experience — I know I have — of enjoying a luncheon or dinner in which each course or each dish seemed to be the perfection of zestful appetizing goodness. The next time you have this pleasure notice carefully how little, if any, salt is used by the diners. In this little book I have tried to outline the use of salt in the preparation of foods. I have done so because I have found that many women not only do not know the quantities of salt to use, but how and when it should be used to secure the best results. In applying these instructions to your cooking, test them on your family. For a while they may con- tinue to use salt at table by sheer force of habit, but immediately they will discover a delightful difference in the everyday foods you serve — a new piquancy — zest — one might even say personality, for foods do have personalities. It is my belief that the woman who masters the art of using salt has taken the first step toward that envied titie of a "born cook."

South's Foremost Seasoning Expert. USE OF SALT IN COOKING MEATS

* Beef or Veal Roasts * I'll start things off with a great big DON'T just to make sure you'll remember it. Here it is: Don't ever wash your meats. Why? Because the addition of water immediately starts the flow of the deliciously flavorsome extractives, the valuable meat juices, and washes them down the drain. Save them for the rich savor- iness of your roast by simply rubbing the meat carefully with a clean damp cloth. Now, when you are ready to cook your roast, you are ready to start the activation of those delightfully palatable extractives. Measure out V2 to % teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to every pound of meat. If there are several pounds and a fraction, then make sure that you measure a frac- tional part of salt also. Seize the roast firmly with one hand and give it a complete salt "facial" with the other. Rub, Rub, Rub. Rub until the roast has absorbed every bit of the salt. Place the roast in a hot oven (do not cover your roaster) and brown quickly, first on one side, then on the other, to seal in as much of the salt and the succulent meat juices as possible and, at the same time, to achieve that eye-tempting "carmalized" color. Then lower the heat of the oven to a moderate temperature and let the roast cook 15 minutes to the pound if liked rare, 20 to 25 minutes if preferred medium to well-done. Never, at any stage, add water. The salt you have rubbed into the roast will activate the flow of extractives and there will be sufficient juice in the bottom of the roaster to baste the roast whenever it begins to dry. Spoon these precious juices, mingled with the cooked- in salt, back into the roast continuously. This basting-in of the salt and extractives will make all the difference between a flat, tasteless roast and one that is superbly seasoned, a triumph when served. * Pot Roasts * The cheaper cuts are prepared for roasting in the same way as oven roasts, except that you will use only Vi teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to each pound for the rubbing-in process. Pot Roasts have less natural juices for the salt to activate. Consequently, after browning the roast in hot vegetable fat (1 tablespoon to each 3 pounds of meat) you will need to add Vi cup of boiling water for each 3 pounds of meat for basting. Pot roasts must be cooked longer than Oven Roasts, at a lower temperature, in order to soften the tough fibres and make the roast more tender. Baste often to keep the exterior moist enough to permit the heat and the salted juices to penetrate uniformly through to the center of the roast. * Lamb Roasts * The method of preparing and seasoning a Lamb Roast for cooking is the same as for a Beef or Veal Oven Roast. Use the same proportions of Carey-ized Salt — V2 to % teaspoon to the pound of meat — and remember to rub, rub, rub it in. Your reward for this rubbing or, what old Aunt Caroline used to call the use of "elbow grease," will be the yielding up of every bit of the inherent good flavor of your roast. Cook Lamb Roast in the same way, and the same length of time per pound, as Beef or Veal Oven Roast. And here's a hint if you have one of those hus- bands who thinks he doesn't like Lamb. Have your meat-cutter remove the fell and the large muscle in the leg. Then watch Mr. Husband gorge himself and yell for another Lamb Roast the next week! * Pork Roasts * A Pork Roast requires more salt in its preparatory rub-down than Beef, Veal, or Lamb. Pork is a watery, moist meat and will yield more extractives. Use 1 full teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to the pound of roast. A Pork Roast, for the same reason, will require longer cooking; at least 30 minutes to the pound. Cook until well-done. The only healthful Pork is well-done Pork. It should not be served rare like other meats but should be cooked until every bit of the "pinkish" tinge is gone and the roast is a full even grey throughout. * Broiled Meats * Two things will insure the success of your broiled meats. One, start with a tender cut. Second, season correctly. Here's how: Again wipe your meat with a clean damp cloth and place on an oiled or greased grill close to the hot flame. In a gas stove leave the door open. Close the door of an electric oven. Sear the meat quickly on each side. If wanted very rare, season now and serve. If wanted medium to well-done, season in the following manner and return to the oven, under a lowered flame, until it reaches the degree of done-ness you prefer. To season properly, use V2 teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to the pound of meat. Sprinkle on evenly, rubbing in the salt with the back of a spoon. You will note that in broiling, the salt is added after the searing. That is because in quick cooking, such as broiling, you do not want the extractives brought out; you want them sealed in. Surface seasoning here is sufficient. But you will note also that except when very rare broiling is wanted, the salt is added before the cooking is completed in order that the salt flavor may be cooked in. Take your broiled meats directly from the oven to the table, dot with butter, dust with pepper, and serve. SOUPS AND STEWS In making soups and stews you, will use the direct antithesis of the roasting and broiling processes. Here you want to start the immediate flow of the meat juices and gelatines, the delicious extractives, I warned you about wasting by washing meats. After wiping off your soup or stew meat with the inevitable clean damp cloth, cut the meat into small pieces, break up any bones, and cover with cold water — using the exact amount of liquid you will require when the soup or stew is done. Add Va teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to each cup of the water and let stand at least one hour. This is to give the salted water an opportunity to draw out the natural food elements and juices in the meat and bones. When ready to cook, bring slowly to a boil, turn the flame down and simmer until the meat is tender. Add vegetables during the last hour of the cooking. You will want all of the cooked-in flavor that you can get by simmering the meat extractives, the salted water, and the vegetables together. Water added later can never become as deligthtfully flavored as the water that is present throughout the cooking, and if the soup or stew is simmered just below the boiling point very little of the liquid and its savory essences will evaporate. Salt added later means only partially seasoned soup or stew, since it has not been cooked into the flavor of the meat or vegetables. Soup correctly seasoned, that is, seasoned early in the cooking, will stim- ulate the appetite and, in consequence, aid digestion by starting the flow of the digestive juices to the mouth. Incorrectly seasoned soup has the opposite effect of blunting the taste-buds of the mouth for the foods that are to follow.

• SALT IN COOKING VEGETABLES

There is only one invariable formula to follow in cooking vegetables; that is to add Carey-ized Salt in the very first stages of preparation. Except for that, each vegetable is an almost entirely different story — in amount of water to be used and in length of time to be cooked. Here is the essential information, simplified as much as possible. * Leafy Vegetables * The food value of Leafy Vegetables lies in their valuable mineral salts and flavors. The single com- monsense rule to remember is that, since these vegetable mineral salts are soluble in water, you will want to use only as much water in the preparation of each vegetable as the cooking recipe will require. This rule applies not only to the Leafy, but to all Succulent Green Vegetables as well. Every time you find yourself with too much liquid and have to "drain off" some of it, you are pouring the healthiest portion of your vegetable down the sink. Here, in brief, is the way Leafy and Succulent Green Vegetables should be cooked: Add carefully measured Carey-ized Salt at the beginning of the cooking to bring out the valuable mineral salts and flavors; use only the necessary amount of water and cook gently until all of it, bearing as it does the extracted minerals and salt, is cooked back into the vegetables by the time they are tender and done. The Leafy vegetables are Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts, Spinach, Beet Tops, Chard, Turnip and Mus- tard Greens, Collard and Kale. With the exception of Spinach, Beet Tops and Chard, all of these vegetables should be started in boiling salted water, using V2 teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to the pound of vegetable. Nc water is used in cooking Spinach, Beet Tops, and Chard, except that which clings to them after they have been washed. This is sufficient to absorb the correct salt measurement. Cook Spinach, Beet Tops and Chard 30 minutes. Cook Cabbage and Brussel Sprouts 20 minutes. Cook Turnip and Mustard Greens, Collard and Kale slowly for 2 hours or until tender. * Root Vegetables * The Root Vegetables are Potatoes, Beets, Turnips, Onions, Carrots, and Parsnips. All of these vegetables should be plunged in enough hot salted water to cover — using 1 teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to the quart of water — and cooked rapidly until they are tender and the salt has become part and parcel of the vegetable's own flavor. Potatoes are cooked only long enough to soften the hard-to-digest starchy fibers and should be removed from the cooking water immediately after they are done and exposed to the air, so that they may dry to a light, mealy consistency. Left in the starchy water they become soggy and heavy. Some of the most valuable food elements are in the skins of the Root vegetables, so it is better to leave your potatoes in their jackets while boiling to make sure that these food elements, along with the salt, are cooked into the potato. Turnips should be thinly peeled and cooked 20 to 30 minutes in the same way. You may extract the food elements in the skins by simply dumping the peelings back into the cooking water and boiling with the peeled turnips. Carrots and Parsnips should be gently scraped, never peeled, and cooked in a very little water until tender. Beets must not be cut before cooking but plunged whole into the boiling salted water and cooked 1 to 2 hours depending on their size and tenderness. The skins slip off easily when done. Onions should be boiled until tender in as little water as possible because they have ample moisture of their own to absorb the all-important salt flavoring. * Other Vegetables * Vegetables that come under neither of the two pre- vious classifications are: Corn, Tomatoes, Peas, Beans, Squash, Asparagus, Cauliflower, Eggplant and Okra. Cut Corn, Tomatoes, Squash Eggplant and Okra, should be cooked in little or no water, because they, like Onions, have a great deal of native moisture; but Carey-ized Salt should be added — V2 teaspoon to the pound of vegetable — at the very beginning of the cooking so that the flavor may be cooked in. If these vegetables are steamed in a double boiler no water is necessary. To cook Corn on the Cob plunge the ears into salted boiling water — 1 teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to the quart — and cook gently 10 or 12 minutes in a cov- ered pot. Thus the corn is tender and ready to eat before its native juices have had time to escape into the salty cooking water. Be sure to remove immediately from the water when corn is done. Asparagus and Cauliflower are cooked like Cab- bage for 20 to 30 minutes. Field Peas must be cooked in 1 cup of hot water and VA teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to each pound of peas for about 1 V2 hours. Dried Peas must be soaked overnight, to allow the peas to swell, and then cooked in the same way as fresh peas. Lima or Butter Beans are cooked in 1 V2 cups of hot water and LA teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to the pound until tender — about 45 minutes — and until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Never drain off any of the delicious juice; but serve it with the beans. String or Snap Beans are cooked in V2 cup of boiling water and V2 teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to each pound of beans. Cook slowly — so that the water does not condense, until the beans are tender — for IV2 to 2 hours. When the beans are done only about 1 cup of liquid should remain in the bottom of the pot. * THE USE OF SALT IN COOKING FOWL

Here's another big DON'T as a starter. Even if your Mother did, and her Mother before her, and her Mother before that, Don't salt your freshly dressed chickens and put them on ice 12 to 24 hours to draw out the blood! Revolutionary? Nonsense, just common sense. The same salting that draws out the blood also draws out all of the natural moisture and the tenderly flavored juices of the fowl. All you want to draw out of the chicken is the animal heat — and the stay on ice will take care of that. I have proved after years of painstaking experiment that chicken is much tenderer and twice as delectable in flavor if it is not salted until it is ready to be cooked! * Baked Chicken, Turkey, Goose * Measure out LA teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt and a dusting of pepper for each pound. Sprinkle uniformly on the inside of the fowl before adding the dressing and rub briskly over the outside. Film with flour and dot generously with butter or garland with strips of bacon. This is necessary because the flesh of fowl is essentially dry. Fat is not distributed throughout as it is in beef, veal, lamb, or pork, and extra fat must be supplied to absorb the salt and impregnate it in the tender meat if the most palatable results are to be ob- tained. Place the fowl in a very hot oven to brown. Then lower the flame and cook in a moderate temperature 20 to 30 minutes to the pound. * Smothered Chicken * Split the chicken down the back and prepare as for baking, rubbing the outside only with VA teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to the pound. Dip in undiluted evap- orated milk or full sweet cream, roll in flour, place in a deep pan, cover with strips of bacon (the necessary fat again). Add 1 cup of hot water, cover, place in a hot oven for 30 minutes, remove the cover and brown. Here again the salt is cooked into the tender Lesh of the chicken as the fat is absorbed — a self-basting process that is aided and abetted by the covering of the pan. * Broiled Chicken * Here Carey-ized Salt is used in the same proportions, VA teaspoon to the pound. Rub only into the inside of the fowl at first. Place on greased rack under a hot flame, breast side up, and brown. Turn breast down and brown again. Now rub the outside of the chicken with the remainder of the salt, dust with pepper, dot with butter, and return to the oven. Turn the chicken frequently under a lowered flame and baste regularly with the butter and salt liquid from the bottom of the broiler until the seasoning has been cooked in and the meat is done. * Fried Chicken *

Use V2 teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to the pound of chicken. Rub the salt carefully into the disjointed pieces of the chicken because the contact with hot fat in the frying pan will form an outer crust that will not permit seasoning to penetrate later. Coat each piece after salting with flour and fry in sizzling hot fat until well-browned on both sides, turning only once. Only by following these simple directions can you achieve the gentle salty, crusty flavor that has made famous this beloved Southern dish. Other ways of Preparing Chicken. In making Chicken Pie, Chicken Gumbo, Chicken Brunswick Stew, Creamed Chicken, Chicken Croquettes, Chicken Mousse, and Moulded Chicken, the correct salt proportions are given in your recipes. Make sure, however, even if the recipe does not so specify, that the salt is added at the very beginning of the preparation of these dishes, and not as an after-thought, if you wish to secure the flavor that can come only with cooked-in seasoning. > THE USE OF SALT IN COOKING FISH

Fish is one of the simplest and quickest foods to prepare and cook. The flesh is light in texture and easily digested, whether baked, fried, boiled or broiled. The chief requisites are that the fish be as fresh from its native brook, bay or stream as possible and that it be tenderly and lovingly seasoned Fish, like chicken is lacking in fat and to be well- seasoned should be cooked in such a way that fat is added to conduct the seasoning uniformly into the fish. If this cannot be done in the cooking, as in the case of Boiled Fish, then salt and fat must be chief constituents of the sauce that is served with the fish. * Baked Fish *

Use lA teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to each pound of fish and rub on both outside and inside of the split fish, using either the hand or the back of a spoon. The fish may be filled with a dressing and sewn back together if you wish. Place the fish on a strip of white cheese cloth in the roasting pan, cover with thinly sliced strips of bacon or salted meat. Bake in a hot oven until browned and the bacon is crisp. This is your signal that the fish has absorbed the salt and the fat. Remove the bacon and baste the fish frequently with the salt-fat liquid in the roaster. Since fish is quickly cooked, be careful not to over- cook; 15 minutes to the pound is sufficient unless the fish is very large and thick.

* Boiled Fish *

Fish to be boiled should be left in one whole piece, tied up in cheese cloth, and suspended in enough hot, not boiling, salted water — Vz teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to each pint of water — to cover. Cook 10 to 12 minutes to the pound. (A "Born Cook" Trick: Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar to the water to improve the flavor and to help keep the flesh firm. A slice of onion is another nice touch if you like it) Lift out, drain, serve very hot with cooked dressing or white sauce. * Broiled Fish * Rub fish to be broiled with Va teaspoon of Carey- ized Salt to the pound. Dust with pepper, coat generously with vegetable oil, and brown quickly under a hot flame. If you have a double-broiler you may turn the fish and cook from both sides. If you haven't a double-broiler, do not risk tearing the fish by turning it. Place fish skin down on broiler and cook in that position until done. Lower the flame and broil 10 to 12 minutes for a small size fish, 12 to 20 minutes for a large size fish, basting continuously with the salt-vegetable-oil liquid in the broiler. (Another "Born Cook" Trick: Add your lemon juice just before serving. If added during the cooking, it may catch fire from the broiling flame and char the fish) * Fried Fish * Rub fish to be fried with the same proportions of Carey-ized Salt — LA teaspoon to the pound. Dust with pepper, dredge well with sifted corn meal, and fry quickly in hot vegetable fat; 10 minutes to the pound is sufficient for thorough cooking. Serve immediately.

* SALT IN PREPARATION OF SALADS

The correct seasoning of salads is a science in itself. A salad can be a wilted, dyspeptic thing — how often have you ordered a luncheon that glibly prom- ised "Crisp Lettuce-and-Tomato Salad" only to receive a dreary concoction of wilted, dejected lettuce leaves and pulpy, pep-less tomatoes? — or a salad can be a miracle of piquancy, subtlety, or tenderness. A salad can make or break one's reputation as a perfect hostess much more quickly than an overdone roast or under- done vegetables. The secret? The salting. How, when, and how much. It is as simple as that. In my twenty-live years of experience I have made thousands of salads and I have yet to discover an in- stance in which a vegetable, fruit, meat or fish salad was not more successful when the seasoning was in- corporated in the dressing and not in the salad itself, and where the dressing, though made up as long as necessary in advance, was added to the salad only the moment before the triumphant whole was rushed to the table. If salt is added direct to the salad, or the dressing is added to the salad a moment too soon, the salt will begin to extract the appetizing, zestful juices immediately and they will shortly be found reposing in a quiet pool at the bottom of the salad plate and alas, unlike the juices of roasts, they cannot be "basted" back in! This is the explanation of why so many Continental hosts mix and apply their salad dressings at table. However, if your husband won't be bothered, or if he is the type that would end up with the oil up his sleeve and the vinegar down his vest, I suggest you stick to the kitchen, remembering my admonition about waiting until the very last minute to add the dressing. This rule, obviously, cannot be applied to jellied, frozen, or moulded salads where the salt has no opportunity to react on the other ingredients. Such salads, however, are usually served with a highly seasoned mayonnaise or cooked dressing. In making either type dressing add the salt at the very beginning, not the end, of the blending process, so that the salt may extract the full essence from the other ingredients. * SALT IN PREPARATION OF SAUCES

The same suggestion that applies to the seasoning of mayonnaise or cooked dressings applies to the making of sauces. The ideal to strive for is a perfect blend. Begin every sauce with the proper amount of salt, add the other constituents in the order specified in your recipe, and you'll find that the salt extracts the peculiarly tart, subtle or zestful flavor of each of the other ingredients and "binds" them masterfully into that en- viable culinary triumph — a perfect sauce. Sauces that have flour as one of their ingredients can fail quicker than any other. Here's your salt-insur- ance for such sauces: add V2 teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt to each 2 tablespoons of vegetable fat called for and work your flour into this hot salt-fat combination before adding liquids and other ingredients. Thus you will avoid that unpalatable taste of starchy, uncooked flour. If vegetables are included in your sauce recipe, chop them fine, cook in the salt-fat mixture until tender. Here you will need no additional liquid since the salt extracts every bit of the flavorsome moisture from your vegetables. Because of salt's inevitable reaction of extracting the best from the other ingredients, even the sweet sauces for puddings, custards, and charlottes insure their success by demanding "a pinch of salt." For such enigmatic directions, I suggest you use Vq teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt. That hazy, inaccurate "pinch" can vary amazingly, depending upon just how dainty or Amazonian is the thumb that seizes it. THE USE OF SALT IN DESSERTS

Here, again, your salt proportions have already been specified for you in carefully worked-out recipes. Trust the culinary experts to realize the value of cooked-in salt and to know that in desserts, as in breads and meat-pies and puddings, there is no way to make up for slip-shod salting in the kitchen by applying the shaker at the table! It remains for me only to caution you about applying the salt at the time specified in the recipe and not when you are reminded of it by re-reading the list of given ingredients. Observe that in making pastries, pudding and cakes, the salt is added to the flour. This is for uniform distribution. In making timbales, the salt is added to the beaten egg. This is to draw out the moisture in the egg and stiffen it, making the fragile finished timbale crisper and tenderer. In making ice creams, ices, and custards that con- tain salt, the salt is added to the liquids, again for uniform distribution of the seasoning.

* An Egg-splanation * You have probably observed that your meringue recipe calls for salt. Would you like to know why? The salt extracts the moisture in the egg, as in the case of the timbales mentioned above, and leaves the beaten egg-white stiffer and firmer. We have learned from the example of the meringue to cook poached eggs in salted water. The salt "firms up" the whites and keeps them from floating off in all directions, in addition to giving the egg its quota of delicious, cooked-in seasoning. For the same good reason salt your fried and scrambled eggs before dropping them into the pan. • Bettering Beverages * One-sixteenth teaspoon of Carey-ized Salt1 added to a quart of Cocoa will "perk up" the blandness of this warming and healthful beverage. One-sixteenth teaspoon of salt added to the grounds of Coffee before it begins to percolate will extract every last bit of the innate good flavor of this stimulating beverage. * Footnote * The proportion of salt per pound to the various foods mentioned in these pages are the healthful, digestive-]' uice-stimulating proportions. The idea that some people like more salt than others is actually a fallacy. These people have merely formed the bad habit of reaching for the salt, even before tasting, because of past experiences with poor seasoning. If you have one of these families, it may be necessary to increase the proportions given here for a time and then taper off gradually to the normal amounts. This booklet shows you the middle path of healthy moderation, the while it pursues its primary purpose — that of showing you how to achieve a reputation as an inspired "Born Cook" by correct seasoning of foods with Carey-ized Salt.

* CAREY-IZED SALT

Carey-ized Salt is unexcelled for purity and flavor, never imparting the slightest foreign flavor. Because it flows freely in all climates and in all kinds of weather, is snow white and fine grained, it is ideal for table use on those foods that should be salted when served. Be- cause it is uniform and even in strength and flavor, you can use it accurately in the kitchen with best results.

THE CAREY SALT COMPANY HUTCHINSON, KANSAS WINNFIELD, LOUISIANA